What does it feel like to live inauthentically at work? For his first professional job in the 1980s, in the fashion industry, Jim Fielding led what he calls a “double life.” With close friends and confidants, he was open about his relationship with another man. But at work, when discussing his partner he’d switch his pronouns and change stories to conform to expectations at the time.
Jim Fielding, Ex-Head of Disney Stores, on the Struggles of Making It as a Queer Executive
Working–and living–inauthentically can cause stress, mental illness, or worse.
August 18, 2023
Summary.
According to Yahoo Finance, there are only four openly gay CEOs atop Fortune 500 companies. That’s up from zero in 2014, when Apple’s Tim Cook came out. But it represents less than 1% of the cohort, well below the 7% rate of Americans in general who identity as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Is there a glass ceiling for gay executives? And if so, are some queer bosses still opting to stay in the closet to avoid damaging their careers? To try to answer those questions, we invited Jim Fielding, an openly gay entertainment-industry executive, to be a guest on The New World of Work. Fielding has thought a lot about these questions and has decided to share his own story and perspective in a just-published book, All Pride No Ego: A Queer Executive’s Journey to Living and Leading Authentically. He was president of Disney Store Worldwide; president of consumer products and innovation at 20th Century Fox; global head for consumer products and retail development at Dreamworks Animation; and CEO of the Claire’s Stores chain. He currently serves as president of Archer Gray’s Co-Lab division, focusing on building businesses via venture investments. But despite that impressive resume, it hasn’t always been easy. In the interview, Jim talked about the bullying he endured as a young man, the years he spent living a closeted double life, and on how he ultimately developed the confidence he needed to be his authentic self at work.